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The beauty of the Zodiacal Light

Zodiacal light (also called false dawn when seen before sunrise) is a faint, triangular tower of light that is visible in the night sky and appears to extend from the Sun’s direction and along the zodiac. Zodiacal light is produced by sunlight reflecting off dust particles in the solar system known as cosmic dust. Zodiacal light is best seen during twilight after sunset in spring and before sunrise in autumn, when the zodiac is at a steep angle to the horizon.

In this romantic scene a bright, crimson sunset complements the colourful centre of the Milky Way and the zodiacal light above the platform of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal. – (By ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org) – http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1516a/, CC BY 4.0, Link)

At the centre of the image stands ESO Photo ambassador Babak Tafreshi, watching the light spectacle unfold around him. His fellow photo ambassador Yuri Beletsky captured this image during the ESO UHD Expedition in 2014, as Babak travelled through the Chilean desert to visit the sites of ESO’s telescopes. – (By ESO/Y. Beletsky – http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1614a/, CC BY 4.0, Link)